The following is published in accordance with the Faculty Senate Rules. Among other purposes, the publication of SEC actions is intended to stimulate discussion among the constituencies and their representatives. Please communicate your comments to Vicki Hewitt, executive assistant to the Senate Office, either by telephone at (215) 898-6943 or by email at senate@pobox.upenn.edu

Chair’s Report: Faculty Senate Chair Dwight Jaggard gave a brief update on the activities of the Faculty Senate committees. He reported that SEC member Peter Struck was elected Chair of the Senate Nominating Committee by vote at the November SEC meeting. He reminded the committee that Provost Vincent Price and Vice Provost for Faculty Anita Allen will attend the January SEC meeting, and he asked SEC members to submit any questions for them in advance. He notified the committee that the issue of University divestment from tobacco companies will be discussed at the January meeting of University Council. He encouraged SEC members who are also members of UC to canvas their constituents on the subject and participate in the discussion at the January University Council meeting.

Past Chair’s Report: Faculty Senate Past Chair Susan Margulies reported that she attended an Academic Planning and Budget Committee meeting and reminded the Senate Executive Committee that she is bound by a confidentiality agreement not to discuss the work of the Academic Planning and Budget Committee outside of the committee.

Update from the Vice President for Public Safety: Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush and Deputy Chief of Police Michael Fink returned to discuss their presentation at the November SEC meeting. They further advised faculty on how to deal with an active shooter situation on campus. They described the training and duties of the first responders and the medical emergency response teams. They advised faculty to be mindful of the rooms they teach in and to develop possible exit strategies for an emergency situation. They recommended faculty members save the Penn emergency phone number, (215) 573-3333, to their favorites list so their cell phones can easily dial it and sign up for UPenn Alert and the Penn Guardian services.

SEC members and the Vice President for Public Safety then discussed the training of public safety officers on diversity and sensitivity issues, bicycle safety on campus, pedestrian safety at campus intersections and further opportunities for information and training on these issues.

Update from the Vice Provost for Research: Vice Provost for Research Dawn Bonnell discussed three topics: an overview of research funding trends, an update on the Penn Center for Innovation and plans for Pennovation at South Bank and measures to reduce the research burden on faculty. She described funding trends at the federal level and trends at Penn in particular. Although the funding environment is challenging, she highlighted the fact that research funding at Penn has held steady for the past few years without decreasing and that Penn ranks third in the country for receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. She believes the recently proposed federal budget bill will not have as negative an effect as anticipated on future NIH funding. She described other funding challenges at the state level, particularly the loss of funding from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. To meet the difficult funding environment, Penn plans to create a Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) to merge together areas of the University focused on sponsored research, corporate relations, licensing and entrepreneurship. A new Pennovation space on South Bank will house research and incubation space for many kinds of innovation projects. Vice Provost Bonnell also described new efforts to decrease the research burden on faculty through the reorganized PCI and new technology solutions.

SEC members and the Vice Provost for Research then discussed how these plans affect non-commercial areas of scholarship and the ethics of increased corporate involvement in University research.